Monday, April 9, 2012

"Of Mice and Men" ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

"Nobody gets to heaven and nobody gets no land," says old Crook, summing up in one sentence what John Steinbeck would write about his entire life. Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," first a novella then turned into a play by the author himself, was written in the desperate 1930s. Yet, with the passage of time, it has become, if anything, even more believable today. This Theatreworks production, directed by Robert Kelley, is a powerhouse.

George (Jos Viramontes) and Lenny (AJ Meijer) are two wandering farmhands, looking for work as they try to build up a stake to someday buy their own place. George is sharp, but Lenny has the brain of a child inside the body of a superman. George's stories of the glory he and Lenny will find in their heaven-on-earth future are enthusiastically adopted by Candy (Gary S. Martinez) and Crook (Charles Branklyn), each hoping to find his own place within George's dream.

But then we meet Curley (Harold Pierce), and especially Curley's wife (Lena Hart), a small-town dreamer who pictures herself a movie star in Hollywood, and we all know how the story must end.

There are so many levels to this story. Poverty is one -- poverty of pocket and spirit. Steinbeck gives us insights into each character, all doomed to remain exactly where they are, even as they move from farm camp to farm camp, earning a little each month then blowing it all in the cathouse. The fate of poor Candy's dog, old and worn out, becomes the truest metaphor of all.

We have all read "Of Mice and Men" along with "The Grapes of Wrath." George's relationship with Lenny has been immortalized in movies and even Bugs Bunny cartoons. So we all know what's going to happen. And yet, the ending still shocks us. The real farm area Steinbeck was writing about was just down the road. It's all familiar and frightening. Expected and unexpected. Beautiful theater.

RATINGS: ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division awards "Of Mice and Men" Four Stars. Acting, directing, staging and story are all winners. And you get John Steinbeck too.

Everyone will recognize how fine a job Viramontes and Meijer do as George and Lenny but we want to give special credit to Martinez's Candy. He begins as a Walter Brennan clone (we're looking for the limp) but by the end of the show we recognize in Candy the soul of the entire enterprise. He has no chance -- but we can't help rooting for him anyway.

As a reviewer, I'm like everyone else: I want to see the light. I want to be lifted out of my seat and into the world of the performance. When the new 'My Fair Lady' comes along I want to rush out and tell you about it. When the show comes up short, I want to figure out why.

In San Francisco, we are blessed with world-class premiere houses, astonishingly good local companies and excellent regional theater. But theater tickets cost real money. I want you to feel a little more secure before you punch BUY.

EXPLANATION OF NEW IMPROVED RATINGS SYSTEM

Our Ratings System has been revamped! Half Stars have been eliminated. Capitalized BANGLES of PRAISE and italicized baubles of despair take their place.

BANGLES are good, and the more the merrier. A ☼ ☼ ☼ BANG BANG rating is better than a ☼ ☼ ☼ BANG rating.

baubles are bad. A ☼ ☼ ☼ baub baub rating is worse than a ☼ ☼ ☼ baub rating. A ☼ ☼ ☼ baub would drop the show below ☼ ☼ ☼, which is the coveted Julie Andrews Line. Below the Julie Andrews Line we recommend you do not spend your Do, Re or Mi.

Note that using this system, a ☼ ☼ BANG is roughly the same as a ☼ ☼ ☼ baub. Neither would be recommended.

A ☼ ☼ ☼ show must have something excellent about it, and it has to involve the story. Great acting helps, terrific staging too. But it's got to be in the writing and the actors have to bring the story alive. It can be big or small, short or long. Just don't bore us. If you do: No Julie Andrews.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ are rare. For a show to earn this rating, it must not only be very good but it must also move us. We need to grow during those two acts plus intermission and we need to be surprised. The author must make us go "AH-HAH! THAT'S what he was getting at!" He must tell a perfect story and the actors must deliver. Uproarious, drooling laughter will always help. Deadening angst plus hopeless and depressing poverty makes it harder.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ are practically impossible. They probably need to involve amazing music and a set you can't take your eyes off in addition to everything else that makes up a Four Star production. In Plotnik's 10 years of reviewing theater in the Bay Area, he has given ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ to only one show: Jersey Boys. And it didn't hurt that Frankie Valli was in the audience on Opening Night and tottered up onto stage to hug the actor portraying him.

We hope our NEW IMPROVED awards system adds to your enjoyments. Please contact me if you feel I have forgotten something obvious. I am in Spain, where it is raining.

Henry Higgins

BANG An especially fine moment

baub A particularly irritating moment

Something incomprehensible, where you scratch your chin and go "Waa-huhhh?"

L-R Special category for David Mamet and Sam Shepard plays. Amount of times you squirm in your seat.